‘A brilliant doctor, sportsman and public representative’ was how Senator Leyden described the late Dr. Hugh Gibbons in a tribute issued this week. Senator Leyden said he had the privilege to work with Dr. Gibbons in the Fianna Fáil party since he was Assistant Director of Elections for both Hugh Gibbons and Brian Lenihan in the General Election of 1969 in Roscommon/ South Leitrim. ‘Dr. Gibbons was TD from 1965 to 1977 and was a dedicated constituency representative, especially for the people of his beloved north Roscommon and south Leitrim. After bowing out of the Dáil at the Convention in Carrick-on-Shannon, he remained on as an officer of the Fianna Fáil Party in Keadue, and the Comhairle and Dáil Cheantair of Fianna Fáil.’ In 1969 he indicated to Terry Leyden that he was offered a Parliamentary Secretary in the Department of Health by the then Taoiseach Jack Lynch, but he declined in order to continue his medical practice in Keadue with support from his beloved wife Josephine. In conclusion, Senator Leyden said that Dr. Hugh Gibbons was a brilliant doctor, sportsman and public representative and a devoted husband and father and he lived to see his family achieve great success the legal and academic field, as well as politics, with Brian as Minister in the Welsh Assembly.
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